These game notes for the Women's battle against UConn were provided by the University of Cincinnati Sports Information Department. Audio interviews were done by Bearcat Insiders Casey Weldon.
Shelly Bellman talks about UConn in this audio clip.
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Women's head coach Laurie Pirtle talks about her team as they prepare for their next ranked opponent UConn.
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UC
vs. No.
5/7 Connecticut
Date:
Tuesday, Jan. 30,
2007
Time:
7 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth
Third Arena (13,176)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Tickets:
GoBEARCATS.com - $2
each
Live
Stats: GoBEARCATS.com
TV:
CPTV, Play by Play: Bob
Picozzi, Analyst: Meghan Culmo.
Radio:
CATSVision (Tommy
Gelehrter).
Series:
UConn leads,
1-0.
Last
Meeting: UConn 92-UC
71.
SETTING
THE SCENE: The Bearcats take on the only team
with an unbeaten mark in the BIG EAST when they host No. 5/7 Connecticut on Tuesday,
Jan. 30 at Fifth Third Arena. The 7 p.m. tip off will feature the highest ranked
team (No. 5) UC has faced since 1990 when the Bearcats fell, 99-38, to No. 3
Georgia on Dec. 13. The Huskies are the fifth ranked opponent for Cincinnati this season,
and the second consecutive.. The Bearcats are recovering from a 76-59 loss to No. 18/17 Marquette on Jan. 27. UConn won at home, 64-47,
over Notre Dame on Jan. 27.
STORY
LINES:
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UConn's Mel Thomas and UC's
Michelle Jones both played at Mt. Notre Dame in Cincinnati where they led the
team to a 28-0 record and a Division I state championship together. Jill Stephens finished second in the West Virginia Ms. Basketball voting to UConn's
Renee Montgomery, who attended South
Charleston, located an hour and 15 minutes south of
Parkersburg South, where Stephens played.
UC's Stephanie Stevens played at Pickerington Central High
School, just 30 minutes from Brittany Hunter's alma mater,
Brookhaven
High School. UC's Emy Ogide
grew up outside of Atlanta, Ga., just a two-hour drive down I-185 to Columbus, Ga. where Ketia Swanier is
from.
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Michelle Jones
leads UC in starts this season with 19. She is the only Bearcat to start every
BIG EAST game this season.
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UConn leads the BIG EAST in 10 of
20 categories. The Bearcats lead the conference in rebounding defense
(31.8).
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The game will feature two of the
best ball handlers in the league. UConn's Ketia Swanier leads the BIG EAST in
the assist/turnover ratio at 2.26. Cincinnati's Carla Jacobs is right behind her
with a 2.13 ratio. Both average 4.4 assists per game. The contest will also
feature two of the best from 3-point range. Mel Thomas is second in the
conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.445), while Karen Twehues is fifth
(.392).
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UC is 7-45 all-time vs. Top 25
teams. The Bearcats' most recent win over a ranked opponent was on Jan. 14 when
UC defeated then ranked No. 24 DePaul, 62-44. UC is 1-3 this season against
ranked foes. The Bearcats are 0-3 vs. teams that received votes (Northern Illinois, USF,
Xavier).
NOTES
FROM MARQUETTE:
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Carla Jacobs scored a career-high
17 points. She earned UC's first ever Player of the Week
recognition
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Michelle Jones had a game-high
seven rebounds in the loss for UC (12-8, 3-5 BIG EAST).
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Stephanie Stevens scored the first
3-point field goal of her career and hit 4-of-4 free throws, tying her career
high for points scored with seven.
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UC shot a season-best 87 percent
(20-of-23) from the free throw line.
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Treasure Humphries did not
register an assist vs. Marquette, breaking a 62-game streak where she
had dished out at least one helper.
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Cincinnati’s five
steals vs. the Golden Eagles tied a season low (UC also had only five steals vs.
Seton Hall on 1/20/07).
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For the first time in her career
Shelly Bellman was held scoreless. In 48 games she had scored at least one
point. She was 0-for-3 from the field vs. Marquette.
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UC out rebounded Marquette, 35-31, though
the Eagles had 18 offensive boards to UC’s 16 and scored 17 second chance
points. The Bearcats have out rebounded 17 of their 20 opponents this season.
BEARCATS
DATA
DOUBLING
DOWN:
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Carla Jacobs got UC's 12th
double-double of the 2006-07 season with a career performance against Georgetown (1/23/07). She
had15 points and set a new career high with 10 assists.
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Karen Twehues and Michelle Jones
both registered double-doubles vs. Xavier (1/17/07). Jones, accomplishing the
feat for the second time in as many games, had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Twehues, notching the third of this season and in her career, had 12 points and
10 rebounds. The last time two Bearcat players had a twin double in the same
game was Dec. 21, 2004 vs. Loyola Marymount when Anne Stephens scored 11 points
and grabbed 11 boards, and Toni Slaughter had 16 points and 12
rebounds.
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Karen Twehues scored her first
career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Alabama A&M
(12/18/06). She blocked two shots, a career-high. She added her second career
double-double with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds against USF
(1/6/07).
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Michelle Jones recorded a
double-double in the season-opener against Youngstown State (11/10/06). She scored 11 points and
nabbed 10 rebounds for her second career double-double. Jones tacked on her
second double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and a career-high
13 rebounds vs. No. 24 DePaul (1/14/07).
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Shelly Bellman has six career
double-doubles, including five this season, most recently vs. Seton Hall
(1/20/07) when she had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Against Notre Dame (1/10/07)
she had 13 points, 10 rebounds and added seven assists. She had 14 points and 11
rebounds against St. Francis (11/22/06); 13 points and 13 rebounds against
Murray
State (11/28/06); and 17
points and 11 rebounds against Tennessee Tech (12/21/06). She also had seven
assists, on the verge of getting UC's first triple-double since Jane Anne
Preston in 1992.
BEARCATS
ATTACK THE BOARDS:
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The Bearcats have won the battle of
the boards in 17 of their 20 games this season. Only Georgetown and Top 25-ranked Louisville (12/14/06) and Arkansas (12/28/06) have beaten UC in that
category. Cincinnati owns a +9.3 rebounding margin this
season, third in the BIG EAST. The UC single-season record is a +6.7
margin.
STEALS
AND DEALS:
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Senior Treasure Humphries, who led
the team in steals both her freshman and junior seasons, is pacing the team in
thefts with 46 and is fourth in the BIG EAST with 2.42 a game. She has had
multiple steals in 17 of 19 games this season.
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Humphries
also leads the team in assists (83). She has had three or more assists in 16 of
the Bearcats' 19 games. She is sixth in the BIG EAST with 4.37 per game.
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Carla
Jacobs had a career-high 10 assists against Georgetown (1/23/07) . She is fifth in the BIG
EAST in assists per game with 4.37 and second in assist/turnover ratio
(2.13).
DOUBLE
OR NOTHING:
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Treasure Humphries is UC's
leading scorer (13.2) and Shelly Bellman is the Bearcats' leading rebounder
(7.0). Bellman averaged 19.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg and was named to the
all-tournament team of the Mildred and Roger L. White Invitational (12/1-2/06),
hosted by Northwestern. Both Bellman and Humphries have been named to the BIG
EAST Honor Roll this season.
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Bellman has scored in double
figures in all but five games she has played this season and in 29 of 48 career
contests. Michelle Jones has scored in double figures in a team-high 15 games
this season and 32 in her career.
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The Bearcats have had at least
three players score in double figures in every game except for two this season
(only two vs. USF on 1/6/07 and vs. Marquette on 1/27/07). The Bearcats have had
five players score in double figures
in four games this season; Cincinnati's 83-51 win over St. Francis (Pa.)
(11/22/06), UC's 86-70 win over Tennessee Tech (12/21/06), a 94-82 loss to No.
23 Arkansas, and UC's BIG EAST home opening win over Georgetown, 77-55
(1/3/07).
"A"
FOR ACCURACY:
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Sophomore Michelle Jones is
shooting a team-high 53 percent from the field, 10th in the BIG EAST. She has
converted 99 of 187 attempts. She had career highs of 10 field goals made
(10-of-13) and 24 points against Tennessee Tech (12/21/06). She was also a
perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
GETTING
FLOOR TIME:
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Shelly Bellman leads the squad in
playing time, seeing the floor 30.1 minutes a game.
Angel Morgan is second on the team
in average minutes played with 29.0. Morgan played the entire 40 minutes and
scored a career-high 18 points, vaulting UC to a 74-57 win over Murray State (11/28/06). The win gave head coach
Laurie Pirtle her 300th at Cincinnati.
3-POINT
THREAT:
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Senior
Karen Twehues is third all-time at UC in career 3-point field goals with175. She
leads the Bearcats in 3-point field goal percentage at 39 percent, fifth in the
BIG EAST.
MOST
IMPROVED:
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Junior Emy Ogide is averaging 5.6
points a game this season, more than doubling her career average coming into the
season of 2.2 points. She had a career game in UC's 65-60 win over Dayton (11/16/06).
The 6-2 junior forward came off the bench to score a game- and career-high 18
points, doubling her previous best of nine points set last year against
Georgetown on
Feb. 21, 2006.
RECORD
SHATTERED:
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UC broke a
team record for 3-point field goals in a game in an 89-65 win over Arkansas-Pine
Bluff on Nov. 14. UC finished with 13 treys, including 10 in the first half. The
Bearcats bested the old mark of 12 set vs. Houston on March 5, 2004.
STREAKING:
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The Bearcats extended their
home-opener winning streak to 11 with the win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff
(11/14/06).
EARLY
BIRDS:
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The Bearcats had their earliest season opener in
school history, playing at Youngstown State on Nov.
10.
DAGOSTINO DEPARTS UC
STAFF:
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First-year assistant coach Dave
Dagostino has left the UC coaching staff, citing personal reasons. The
resignation was effective on January 26. Prior to joining the UC staff
last spring, Dagostino had been the head coach at Jacksonville State University, where he also resigned from his post
following a six-year tenure at the Alabama school, including three as the
Gamecock’s head coach.
STIFLING
"D":
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Cincinnati has held
11 of its 20 opponents to 65 points or less and is averaging 66.2 points allowed
this season. The Bearcats held No. 24 DePaul (1/14/07) to 44 points, a season
low.
STARTING
FRESH:
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With the start against YSU, Carla
Jacobs became one of nine true freshmen Division I point guards in the nation
who started in their teams' women's basketball season openers.
LOOKING
AHEAD: The Bearcats will face
off with Rutgers at the Louis Brown
Athletic Center on Saturday, Feb. 3 with a 2 p.m.
tip off.